Expanding on the 4th option, I will fictionally channel the mind of Hillary Clinton with respect to the interesting question, question 4, as she justifies answering "no" if in fact she does plan to run:

You know, this question of wanting or liking to be President... I don't think one should ever want such an awesome responsibility. One always hopes that there is some far greater, far more experienced woman or man who will take on the overwhelming responsibilities of the presidency. It's not about liking to be President. The Presidency is a profound duty, never to be undertaken for personal satisfaction. What I would like would be for Barack Obama to measure up to the trust the American people have put in him. That is what I want. But if, for whatever reason, the American people desire a change — and Wolf, it is what the American people want that is essential here — and if the American people turn to me, because I am the most able, best experienced person to move into the role of President, I would not turn away from them. By the grace of God, I would endeavor to serve them.

Ok... first of all Wolf Blitzer is asking the questions... Wolf Blitzer!!!

If Bozo the Clown were asking you questions, would you answer seriously and honestly? Blitzer is two steps below the hypothetical Bozo on the seriousness ladder.

Secondly, you need to speak Clintonese. "No" when being asked if she would like to be President means "yes". Remember "I did not have sexual relations with that woman"?

Third, it often seems that everyone involved in the fucking Obama Administration will take any opportunity to lie as long as they think it looks good. And they'll completely ignore the promises Obama made during the campaign. Honesty and integrity are just not important-- not important at all. Hillary is right there in the nuclear core of Team Obama; she's been there since day one.

I read somewhere-- can't remember where-- that conservatives fear their base, while liberals despise theirs. I keep on coming back to this quip because it seems so terribly true.

Gawd, I hate the Obama Administration. HATE! HATE! HATE! (And I voted for them... last time I make that fucking mistake...)

"Gawd, I hate the Obama Administration. HATE! HATE! HATE! (And I voted for them... last time I make that fucking mistake...)"

I 'held my nose' and voted McCain.Not because I 'absolutely loved' McCain, but because I KNEW Obama was the diversity pick the day Joe fucking Biden talked about how 'clean' he was. Talk about a whiff of racism!

While here, I was never concerned about Bill being around had she been elected. She's probably the only person on earth he's afraid of and there is _no_ way she would let him anywhere near anything sensitive.

She didn't rein him in enough in the campaign (a mistake) but I'm pretty sure she would have.

The former first lady thing that was such a bug to Ann never bothered me and I still don't understand why it bothered her.

Obama's victory was a triumph for the MSM that sat on known negatives about him until it was too late and the nail in the coffin for their legitimacy.

Almost Ali thinks she coulda done better on her own. That's right, Miss Zero Charm woulda gone right to the top without the drag-weight of Mr. Charm The Birds Outta The Trees Bill at her side. Sure she would.

Ex-wife once suggested that names across the country be chosen at random: knock on the door, "Are you Mr/Miss/Mrs X?" "Yes" "You've been chosen to serve as the next President." Anyone who says "Yes!" or it enthusiastic is disqualified; you'd want somebody who says "NO! I've got a business to run/job to do/family to raise!" And who preferably despises politicians in general.

"One always hopes that there is some far greater, far more experienced woman or man who will take on the overwhelming responsibilities of the presidency."

Eh, didn't you just admit on a recent radio interview that you have voted for Obama?

What was this great "experience" that you felt he had over his opponent? Length of time in the Senate? Great legislation written while an Illinois senator? Federal bills written during his short tenure as a federal senator? Or maybe his ability to lead people. I realize that being a community organizer is so much better than being an officer in the U.S. military, where you have to make life and death decisions for others.

Then you go on to say:

"What I would like would be for Barack Obama to measure up to the trust the American people have put in him."

Well, Ann, not ALL of us bought into the "hopey change" motto. We did our homework; we researched the bills Obama wrote as a state senator, we researched his voting record on both a state and a federal level. We read his books and understood that this man was pretty much an empty suit being created out of fairy wings by David Axelrod. In other words, he is acting exactly the way we expected him to act, not as a leader, not as someone who can govern, or even have a deep hand into the laws passed by our nation.

So............

perhaps you are suffering from buyer's remorse. That's fine, but admit it. Understand that you willingly walked up to the voting booth and bought the snake oil. There is NO shame in admitting you were wrong.

I think that the fact this post has generated so few comments is proof that Hillary is yesterday's news. Four years ago a post on the question of whether she'd run for president would have generated a lot more interest. Kinda like the question of whether or not Teddy Kennedy would run for president. After he ran against Carter, people would ask every 4 years whether Teddy would make another run -- but it was just the polite thing to do. His moment had come and gone, so no one really cared about the question of whether he'd run again because the answer didn't matter. If he ran he wouldn't win.

The same goes for Hillary. Her time has past, but it'd be rude to not ask if she's considering a run.

Ricpic - Listen, give Bill the credit for stringing her along for near-on a lifetime. Give Obama even more credit for stringing her along from a golf course. And give our enemies credit for stringing her along without even trying. It's no accident that Barack kept her far from the action. That goes for Bill, too, obviously.

And to add insult to injury, you certainly don't want to hear what the religioneers of peacehaven't been calling her. I mean, it requires a special "talent" for a woman to be discounted and ignored by the Muslim community - a sloven, female infidel in their midst.

@Michael FarrisSay what you want about her, Hillary wouldn't be playing golf and fantasy basketball in the middle of multiple crises and stuck on advancing her private hobby horses at the expense of everything else.

Oh good gried. She claimed being First Lady was sufficient qualification to be President. Of course she'd be stuck on her hobby horses, she didn't have (and doesn't have now) the experience to be anything else.

"[W]e ask this young man who is paying attentions to our daughter to declare his intentions. What are his intentions? Are his intentions honourable? Here, would it make any difference if we asked him what was the purpose of these attentions, whether he has some purpose in view, whether his is doing these things on purpose or for a purpose? This makes his conduct seem more calculated, frames him as an adventurer or seducer. Instead of asking him to clarify the position, perhaps to himself as well as to us, are we not now asking him to divulge a guilty secret?"

How quickly forget. Prior to the advent of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin on the national scene Hillary Clinton was regarded as the most divisive politician from either party. She couldn't have been elected in 2008 and, if she chose to run in 2012, she couldn't be elected except against a tiny handful of potential Republican opponents (Christine O'Donnell comes to mind).

On the other hand, if Hillary Clinton was president she could probably recruit a more competent Secretary of State than the one Obama picked.

Whatever else you think about Hillary, I've no doubt she's *driven*-- she'll be driven to go for it as long as she lives. Not for her to go skulking around like a ghost, complaining to anyone who'll listen about how she was in the right, and how she should've gone for it, blah blah.

I try not to go in for cheap ad hominems, even against someone I so viscerally dislike as Obama, but I'm curious that people are starting to pick up on a mental-issues vibe. Because it really does look, right now, like he's not even going through the motions. Two-termers often get into a mental sinkhole about 6-9 months after the relection, and have to get jolted out again (generally this happens nicely through Executive Branch scandals). But the world is shaking all around, and what the hell is Obama doing?

His massive lack of 'equipment', in experience or in temperament, for executive decision-making is showing even more epically now that he can't hide behind the mantle of Progressive legislative wish-listing. Even Carter and Clinton were never this frivolous.

"Whatever else you think about Hillary, I've no doubt she's *driven*-- she'll be driven to go for it as long as she lives. Not for her to go skulking around like a ghost, complaining to anyone who'll listen about how she was in the right, and how she should've gone for it, blah blah."

Well most of us have to you know, work for a living, raise a family, keep house, pay the mortgage. The kind of mundane shit that doesn't allow us to jet set around the globe for state luncheons and rote speeches.

And I don't think she was lying in this instance, but in error due to being seriously fatigued.

Now thats laugh out loud funny. Serious fatigue could explain forgetting a birthday, when Columbus discovered America or who won the 2010 World Series but scampering across a runway tarmac to avoid sniper fire? That requires suspension of disbelief on a galactic scale or simple stupidity.

It is not that complicated. She was obviously lying when she said she would not like be president. The proof is in the two follow up questions and answers, in which Clinton was first incoherent and then non-responsive. Any reasonable and ojective person looking at the follow up answers would conclude she lied (the first follow up answer was so bad even Wolf Blitzer was able to ask an effective follow up).

Q- Would you like to be president of the United States?

No

Q- Why not?

Because I have the best job I could ever have. This is a moment in history where it is almost hard to catch your breath. There are both the tragedies and disasters that we have seen from Haiti to Japan and there are the extraordinary opportunities and challenges that we see right here in Egypt and in the rest of the region. So I want to be part of helping to represent the United States at this critical moment in time, to do everything I can in support of the president and our government and the people of our country to stand for our values and our ideals, to stand up for our security, which has to remain first and foremost in my mind and to advance America's interests. And there isn't anything that I can imagine doing after this that would be as demanding, as challenging or rewarding.

Q- President of the United States?

You know, I had a wonderful experience running and I am very proud of the support I had and very grateful for the opportunity, but I'm going to be, you know, moving on.

Let's see, for the Sec'y of State to become President, both the President, Vice-President, Speaker of the House and President Pro-Tem of the Senate must die. I would become President in the middle of a tremendous crisis, likely the start of a war. Do I want that? No.

--Yeah, I'm waiting too for Hillary to pull her Cyrus Vance and announce a 'conscientious' resignation over some Obama decision that is just too, too shocking. . . .

In the short run after such a call, the MSM would probably give her hell (they won't buy it, of course) but really, in all realpolitick I could hardly blame her. Obama has *earned* her resignation, in my book; he knows damn well she owes him no fealty for giving her a crap job (has Sec State been anything but an emasculated outreach program post-James Baker?). And she understands the world-- and power-- much better than he.

And the populist remnants of the Trumanite persuasion would go mad for it. Hell, she's the Palin of the center-left!

Could she have a shot for 2012 if Obama's running? I think she'd at least do as well as Teddy in '80, maybe more like Reagan in '76. Obama's progressive supporters have to be much lower on passion now: and they're just not the kind of people who understand that personal loyalty thing.

The DNC and MSM can prevaricate about liberal unity all they want: I *know* Hillary Dems who are just biding their time! . . .

Would not "like" to be president but would undertake to shoulder the burden when her party and the country beseech her to save them from that guy over there who is busy filling out his brackets, playing another round of golf, and preparing for a trip to Rio - I think that's how she sees it.

Yes, vbspurs, being passed up twice by a couple of inferior dorks for nomination to SCOTUS probably hurts even more than traipsing around the world apologizing for the feckless indecision that now constitutes our foreign policy.

She is serving an ineligible POTUS (his father was never a US Citizen).Re-Elected? What kind of "Law Prof"are you?The kind that says "he is there so he must be eligible" I assume.Does that mean that if I sit in your class that I have a right to be there?I can imagine your discussions of the "Commerce Clause". Let me guess, they go like this. "We lawyers have said what it means for the last 150 years, and stare decisis overrides the original intent, because we lawyers are so smart.The scourge of Academia is relativism.

Yes. Natural Born Citizens are Born of 2 US Citizen parents on US Soil.Obama's father was Kenyan, and Obama admits to British Citizenship at birth due to the British Nationality Act of 1948. He may be a British Citizen to this day, but we are not allowed to see his passport records. The last person who did see them was murdered.How can a natural born Citizen, eligible to be POTUS, be born a British Subject? Do you think the founders would be OK w/ that?And no the presidents that were born British were grandfathered in by the "grandfther clause": "or a citizen at the time...." So I'll cut you off at the pass there.The first natural born Citizen was Van Buren, born after the Declaration of Independence to American Citizens in NY.